1983 cover art

1983

The World at the Brink

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1983

By: Taylor Downing
Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
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1983 was a supremely dangerous year - even more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the US, President Reagan massively increased defence spending, described the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire' and announced his 'Star Wars' programme, calling for a shield in space to defend the US from incoming missiles.

Yuri Andropov, the paranoid Soviet leader, saw all this as signs of American aggression and convinced himself that the US really meant to attack the Soviet Union. He put the KGB on alert to look for signs of an imminent nuclear attack. When a Soviet fighter jet shot down Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007 after straying off course over a sensitive Soviet military area, President Reagan described it as a 'terrorist act' and 'a crime against humanity'. The temperature was rising fast.

Then at the height of the tension, NATO began a war game called Able Archer 83. In this exercise, NATO requested permission to use the codes to launch nuclear weapons. The nervous Soviets convinced themselves this was no exercise but the real thing.

This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, of intelligence failures, misunderstandings and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of extraordinary new documents just released in the US, Taylor Downing is able to tell for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983.

1983: The World at the Brink is a real-life thriller.©2018 Taylor Downing 20th Century Modern Politics & Government Russian & Soviet World Espionage Soviet Union War Military Cold War Thought-Provoking Imperialism Nuclear War Russia Socialism Imperial Japan Middle East American Foreign Policy
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Critic reviews

Taylor Downing's gripping and frankly terrifying book on the US-Soviet nuclear confrontation (Tom Holland)
A carefully researched and hugely readable account of the build-up to war, the momentum inexorably growing as he assembles each part of the jigsaw. Indeed, his narrative is so persuasive that by the time you are about two- thirds through, it takes some effort to remind yourself that the Third World War never happened (Dominic Sandbrook)
If you want to understand what brought about the end of the Cold War, read this book. Downing is authoritative, and his writing is vibrant and compelling . . . He brings to the page his skills and insights as a documentary film maker
Clearly accessible to a wide audience, Downing's authoritative and well-researched narrative charts the growth of US-Soviet antagonism from Reagan's arrival in office in January 1981 to Able Archer. It deftly takes the reader from the White House to the skies over the Kamchatka peninsula, the streets of Beirut and the corridors of the Kremlin, where anxieties over confrontational US rhetoric were rising in the geriatric leadership of the Communist Party . . . This a remarkable story, which Downing tells in sparkling prose and in a feat of compression that many authors will envy
Downing tells this grim story with pace and flair
All stars
Most relevant
An excellent insight into how close we came to war, with some fascinating detail. Narration is poor, though. American accents are all over the place, and the rest is delivered in a rasping croak which sounds like it's being read by a carrion crow.

Enthralling but let down by narration

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I love the detail in which Taylor goes into to give you the full picture.

Another brilliant book from Taylor Downing

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An enjoyable listen about a time I lived through as an angsty teenager. Somewhat let down by the narration style which grated on me.

Confirmed the fears of an 80’s teenager!

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This is a very good listening. A well written, very well narrated audiobook, covering some of the most momentous times of the cold war era, ending up with the arms reductions treaty now being scuttled by the incompetent Trump administration.

Highly recommended.

Excellent!

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A brilliant book. I had almost been out off buying this book by some reviews suggesting it was ruined by narration, but I don’t think this was the case at all. A really interesting and enjoyable listen.

Fantastic, Gripping listen.

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